After the Storm
by ZamShazam1995
Summary: After 'War' Bart wakes up in the warehouse with a concussion, and Nightwing has to explain what happened to him and where Blue Beetle has gone. How will he react to knowing that he failed the human race and his best friend? Bluepulse if you squint


I didn't know what was happening. One minute I was standing with the team and the next I was gone, out like a light. I felt and ache in the back of my head, and I heard a scream that I thought might have come from me. I fell into the darkness for a few hours it seemed until I awoke in the warehouse.

Instantly, I knew something was wrong. Jaime was not beside me, he wasn't anywhere when I opened my eyes. I feared what I already knew, that I'd lost him. I pushed that thought into the farthest reaches of my mind. No, no that wasn't possible.

Nightwing walked into my field of vision. I tried to sit up to him, but my arms wouldn't respond. I felt so sluggish, so tired.

"Careful." He sat next to me, with a weary voice. "You've got a concussion."

"What?" I asked, turning my head to the side, looking for him. I felt a dull ache at the base of my neck that sent little bolts through my body when I moved.

"Blue attacked the team." He looked at me, genuinely sorry that he had to tell me. "And I say Blue, because it wasn't Jaime."

"No." I said, trying to sit up. "He wouldn't."

"Bart, he did." Dick placed a hand on my leg. "Something happened; he must have given the scarab control."

"No, he wouldn't. Not him, I trust him." I said, refusing to believe. He would never betray the team. He would never betray me.

"He took out the whole team. He stapled Cassie to the floor. He is gone Impulse." Dick seemed to shout. I still wouldn't hear him.

"Why?" I said back loudly. "Why would Jaime do that?"

"I don't know." He looked away, holding in all of his emotions.

"His scarab…" I drifted off, my worst fears confirmed. My Jaime, we were friends, how could he let this happen? "It can't be."

"He hit you in the back of the head with the rock and knocked you out." His head sunk down, placing two fingers on the bridge of his nose.

"Wait, he hit me from behind, with the rock sliver thing?" I asked incredulously. "Wow I didn't even suspect it."

He got me from behind. That was cold if anything. He got me when I wasn't even paying attention. I had no inkling. I couldn't comprehend it. That hurt inside.

"Don't beat yourself up." He looked up to me; I read nothing from behind his eyes. "It wasn't him."

"It had to be him." I muttered. "He took me out first, it had to be him."

"Why would you say that?" He asked.

"Jaime…" I paused, I just knew it was him. It wasn't hope, it was determination. I wouldn't let him be gone forever. "He wouldn't have been able to see my face. He would have known what he was doing was wrong. He took me out first so he could get out. He has gotta be working for someone."

Dick shook his head and stood up. "Bart." He hesitated, "Jaime's gone."

I watched him walk out before I swung my legs off the bed and stumbled to the floor, hitting the wall. The world spun around me and my mind was racing at the idea that Jaime wasn't gone. He couldn't be. I took another step and fell to my knees. My head was shooting pain all through my body.

I felt the bile rising in my throat and I vomited into the nearest trash can. I felt my empty stomach heave at every flash of Jaime that my mind threw at me and my eyes brimmed with tears. I sat, panting over the trash can, with tears falling down my face for a few moments before lurching my body up again. I wouldn't let myself rest, the pain helped me think.

I made it outside the warehouse and into the fresh air before I collapsed again on the pavement. Dick had most likely seen me, but in all honesty, I would have refused any help and I think he knew that. He knew that Jaime and I were close, and he knew what it felt like to lose someone close to him.

I pulled myself up off the concrete again before continuing on down the pier to the sand water. At the beach, there was nothing to steady my balance, nothing for me to hold onto, so when I fell into the water I stayed there. Maybe I liked the feeling of the ice chilling my bones, but maybe I just wanted to get away from the pain in my mind.

I curled into the water and it curled around me in return. I let myself think the worst thoughts that I had been holding in since I had first regained consciousness and he wasn't at my side.

I thought back to the future and how painful it was. I was so hopeful that I could come back and save everyone form this person that I thought was a monster, but really he was the sweetest, gentlest person. He had hurt everyone and I really just thought I could come back and stop him. I had seemed so easy.

In the future, he had done terrible things to us. Things I had never even told him about. He had broken the human race and I was so stupid to think that I could stop it from happening. Maybe if I had done something, anything differently, he would be safe and none of this would have been happening. He would never have given me a concussion or betrayed the team. We would be sitting on the couch eating Chicken Whizzies and watching some stupid horror movie. It could have gone so differently. But why? Why would he give himself over? He knew what would happen. Was it something I did?

I let myself sob into the cold salt water. The violent shaking hurt, but at the time I felt I deserved every bit of the pain. I deserved everything that I got because it was all my fault.

I failed.

I failed earth. I failed Jaime. I failed the team. I failed everything. I let everyone down. And worst of all, Jaime might be in there somewhere, watching himself do all the damage. He was the worst victim. He had to know that he would bring the downfall of civilization and kill his best friend.

Because that was how this was going to end. I would die trying to protect him from himself. It was just a matter of time now.


End file.
